Anyone can transcribe ten videos. The real test is a thousand, or three thousand, on a Tuesday afternoon when you have a meeting at four.
We built Scriptube for that second case. The goal is simple: you start a big job, you go do something else, and it gets done. Here is what that means in practice.
1. You know the cost before you start
Surprises are the enemy of big jobs. So before you confirm a batch, Scriptube shows the estimate. For channels, it includes the video count and the credits. You decide with the number in front of you. See credits explained for how to read it.
2. Nothing else gets in the way
There is no cap on batch size, videos per day or parallel batches. Credits are the only limit. A thousand-video batch is just a batch. You do not split it into pieces or schedule it across several days. Read the founder's note: no more daily limits.
3. It keeps going on its own
Large jobs rarely run in one smooth line. Sometimes YouTube slows things down. When that happens, waiting videos resume automatically. You do not need to notice, restart anything or paste links again.
Just as important: nothing is charged until a transcript arrives. A video that is waiting costs you nothing while it waits.
4. You can see everything, and you do not have to
If you like to watch, the batch page shows a progress bar, videos per minute and time left. A batch map gives you one coloured square per video, and the status tabs (Failed, Waiting, Completed, Skipped) list the videos 50 per page. The full tour is in watch your batch live.
If you prefer not to watch, you do not have to. Close the tab and come back later. Developers can use webhooks for completion, described in the API docs.
5. Fixing problems takes one click
When videos fail, the Failed tab lists them and you can retry them all with one click. No rebuilding the batch. See retrying failed transcripts.
Some videos will never produce a transcript because YouTube has no captions for them at all. In a real 3,199-video channel, 99.2% came back with a transcript, and the rest were mostly long live streams and old clips. You are only charged for transcripts you actually get, so those cost nothing.
6. If credits run out, nothing is lost
If your credits run out mid-batch, you keep everything already transcribed. The rest is cancelled and not charged. A batch never fails silently. More in you only pay for what you get.
What a calm big job looks like
- Paste a channel on your dashboard.
- Read the estimate and confirm.
- Go to your meeting.
- Come back, glance at the batch map, retry anything in the Failed tab.
- Open your library, sort by views and start reading.
Who this is for
- Researchers who need an entire channel, not a sample.
- Agencies running several client channels at once, thanks to no cap on parallel batches.
- Teams building datasets who want exports in JSON, JSONL or CSV. See building a dataset from channels.
- Creators who want their own back catalogue turned into searchable text.
A promise we try to keep
We do not claim a perfect success rate, because no honest tool can: some videos have no captions to retrieve. What we promise is the behaviour around that fact. You see the cost first. You are charged only for what you get. You can see what happened to every video. And a big job keeps moving without you.
Have a big channel in mind? Start it from your dashboard, or see plans and credits.